Trauma Systems Therapy

Serving families, children and youth between the ages of 4 and 21 who may be at risk of hospitalization, involvement with the legal system, or being placed outside of the home.

What does Trauma Systems Therapy (TST) address?

Families can face trauma or major life stressors, leading to emotional and behavioral challenges such as:

Verbal and physical aggression | Family conflict | School difficulties | Substance use

Parents and caregivers receive direct support to ensure they have access to basic resources and support with parenting, self-care, safety planning, de-escalation strategies, and building stronger parent-child bonds.

Your commitment to TST

Participating in TST involves a commitment of 2 to 4 sessions per week over the course of 6 to 12 months. Families will work with multiple members of the TST team to build consistent wraparound support. In most cases, children will pause other mental health therapy while focusing on the TST program.

To qualify for TST

A possible history of traumatic events or stressors.
At risk of hospitalization, legal system involvement, or placement out of the home due to emotional and behavioral difficulties.
At least one guardian to participate in treatment.
Has insurance, including Medicaid, CHP+, or Private Insurance.

How TST Works

TST provides a team-based approach utilizing therapy, skills-coaching, care management, and medication management as needed.
TST is “systems” therapy and is different from typical “family therapy.” There is typically one adult therapy session, one child/youth therapy session, and once care management/skills coaching session per week.
TST starts with a comprehensive assessment, tailored to the family. This helps us determine what phase of treatment we will start in and will guide our treatment focus. The 3 phases of TST address safety & stabilization, emotion regulation, and healthy thinking & trauma processing.
The TST Team provides care management and coordinates with the other systems involved with the family: school, court, psychiatric and primary care physicians, social services, etc.
If there are multiple children of concern in the family, please refer the child with the MOST AT RISK behaviors. Please note the concerns about the other children.